


Comrades in Arms

by dramaticbanjo



Category: Danball Senki
Genre: Bullying, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-09 12:05:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4348148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dramaticbanjo/pseuds/dramaticbanjo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes being the ace isn't all that its cracked up to be.</p><p>Andrei Gregory and the unnamed background characters of Rossius, and their everyday life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of headcanon from my friend on tumblr:  
> "gregory-senpai was actually really unpopular in his class because of him overshadowing everyone else in his class even when he wanted to make friends with his classmates and when muraku came onto the scene he was secretly relieved despite the hit on his pride because he finally had someone who was about the same level as him and didn’t treat him with blatant envy and distrust"

“He’s at it again.” The student adjusted his uniform’s purple tie as he sat down at his desk, his friends returning to theirs, all returning from the lunch period. In the desk next to him, the friend he could always count on for a blunt, if somewhat tactless, opinion, snorted, slouching in his seat. “Doesn’t he ever shut up?” His voice a little louder than a mumble, “No one _cares_.”

            “The commander cares.” Another boy piped up from behind him, pushing his black-framed glasses up his nose, “Probably why he’s allowed so much freedom.”

            “Kiss ass.” Was all the sarcastic boy said, leaning back so he could put his feet on his desk, watching more students come into the room and take their seats.

A girl with multi color barrettes took her seat near them, sighing deeply before pulling out a compact to retouch her lip gloss, “God, he’s so annoying.” She said in an irritated tone, and though she wasn’t looking at them for an answer, the first student made a noise of agreement, going on to adjust his jacket cuffs, “Was he talking all through lunch?”

            “You couldn’t hear him?”

            “We ran out and ate near the gym.” She laughed a little, pausing in applying her make up, “We should all do that next time.”

The student with the glasses rolled his eyes, “He would probably notice.”

            “Just set up a mirror he could talk to—I’m sure he would be fine.” The boy slouching said, loud enough for everyone in the classroom could hear it. They all laughed, some hiding it behind their hand, some not bothering to.

            “You better watch your mouth,” A girl with ribbons in her hair called back from the front row, “He might forget you during War Time.”

            “I doubt it.” He had an smirk on his face, “It’s all _Rossius_ this and _I can do_ that. If he’s so great, he won’t leave any one behind.”

            “So you’re just gonna’ bum off The Grey Beast?” A boy with short dreadlocks twisted in his seat to talk, “Man, don’t you have pride?”

            “What? He’s _asking_ for it. He’s so annoying all the time, rubbing it in all of our faces how so much _better_ he is, how he’s the _Goddamn Grey Beast_.” There were more than a few noises of agreement, some bordering on scorn, “Then, whatever. He can win the war on his own if he’s so much better than us.”

There was a lull as his words sank in, before the girl shut her make up compact with a click, turning in her seat to talk to the girls in front of her. They were giggling, a sharp tone to their voices. “…More than that, you know. He’s so _awful_ , no wonder his parents let him go here all the way from Russia or whatever. I bet they were glad to be rid of him.” Another girl’s giggles turned into snorts, “Did you hear him in math class? Oh my god, for being Rossius’ ace, he sure is stupid.”

            “Bet he’s relying on his rep in the Second World to boost his grades.”

            “I sit next to him, and I saw his notes—no rep in the world could save his fat ass from that.” They all laughed, their desks shifting slightly so they could lean in again, “I was next to him during the first year, you know—his Japanese hasn’t improved.”

            “You’re kidding!”

            “No, really, listen to this…” She straightened up, puffing her chest out and started saying a broken mixture of Japanese and English in a heavily accented voice. Several people around them laughed with them when she was done, “I don’t bother to correct anything he says—its not like he’d listen, right?”

Suddenly, as if on cue, they all quieted down when the door opened again, letting the broad form of Andrei Gregory enter, and the familiar figure wearing a heavy coat, their commander, Ivan Krosky.

The students’ watched the tall, silver haired teenager make his way to his desk, some of them laughing quietly when he had to pull the chair out further than normal so he could sit down. A sweeping glare from Ivan was enough to make everyone quiet down again, and he cleared his throat, starting give out the few announcements they needed to know right after lunch.

In the back, the student’s friend slouched even further into his seat again, crossing his arms across his chest, “Why doesn’t he just transfer or something? Give us a chance to shine.”

            “Who else would want him?” The student whispered back, and their group laughed until Ivan glared at them again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The students amuse themselves in between War Times.

“Are you sure about this?” His sarcastic friend looked up from the pile of clothes when he asked, brows furrowed in his usual expression, “What are you asking that for, man? You’re down here with me, you’ve gotta’ be sure about it.”

He tugged on the edges of his sleeves as he fidgeted, making his friend sigh and stand up, holding an almost-sail of a uniform button up in one hand, “What? It’s not like anyone’s getting hurt.” Raising his eyebrows so high they almost touched his hairline, he held up the shirt and shook it in front of his face, “It’s just clothes.”

After a moment, he let out a loud breath, “You’re right—so, how do you know that one’s his?”

            “Uh, hello?” His friend held up the shirt again, “You could use this as a fucking blanket. There’s only one person who can fit in this, and you know its him.”

He snorted back a laugh, bending over to dig through another basket of clothes, “Well, I found the pants too.” He held them up, and both boys started hopelessly snickering. “Oh my god, I knew he was a fat ass but this is too much!” His friend picked up a similarly large uniform jacket and slung it over one shoulder like a cape, “I think we got everything, right?”

            “I’m not rooting around for his boxers.”

            “Same here. Thank god for laundry day, though, right?” He nudged the other with an elbow, “Come on–let’s switch them.”

            The last of the Rossius students were milling around the ground floor when they emerged from the back, a basket of laundry under one arm. Another student with black, thick-framed glasses looked up form his book in mild interest to wave at them as they passed, “I assume I’m going to have to do all my own ironing?”

            “Unless you start paying us.” His sarcastic friend answered over his shoulder, making some of the other students around them laugh quietly, “Its already enough trouble we got stuck with laundry duty this week too.”

            “Don’t tell me you pinched _someone’s_ uniform.” A girl said from a table, taking the multi-colored barrettes out of her hair and carefully stashing them into a small container. The emphasis she put on the word _someone_ meant that she knew what they had done. Both boys shared a smirk, “Why, we would never!” His friend insisted with dramatic tone, “Come on, man, let’s finish this stupid chore up.” With a nudge, they both headed up the stairs, and the girl turned her attention back to her friends. Whatever they were talking about, they couldn’t hear her, but it caused the girls to break out into giggles.

            The upstairs hallways were quiet and mostly empty, leaving both boys to chuckle as they set the pile of clothes down in front of a dorm’s door, “Well, it doesn’t look any different.”

            “Of course not, man, now let’s go.”

            The next morning, both him and his sarcastic friend were waiting by the door after breakfast, with him absently adjusting the cuffs of his jacket, while his friend was already loosening his tie to stow it away in his bag.

            “What’s taking him so long?”

            “Probably figuring out how to get all the buttons done up.” His friend replied easily, pulling his tie off, “I would’ve liked to see his face first thing, though.”

            “That means you’d have to room with him.”

His friend made a face, “Hell no.” His abrupt answer made both of them laugh, until the sound of someone coming down the stairs heavily made them quiet down.

            Andrei Gregory looked both uncomfortable, and like he was trying to ignore how uncomfortable he was, with the buttons of the switched uniform already tight, and it was evident he had given up on closing his jacket. Both of the students by the door nudged each other repeatedly, and his sarcastic friend looked like he would have to bite his hand to stop himself from laughing too loud. With another nudge, they quickly left, repeatedly elbowing each other in the side in between sniggers.

            As expected, Andrei Gregory was also the last one to get to class, the smaller uniform starting to obviously strain. The silver haired teenager seemed to be doing a good job ignoring the whispered conversations and low giggles around him, while the student in the back of the class leaned over to talk to his friend, who, as usual, was leaning back in his chair so he could rest his feet on his desk.

            “How long do you give it until it breaks?”

            “With his fat ass? Probably until lunch. Combined with his ego? Probably sooner.” In front of him, the girl wearing colored barrettes made a small sniff of disdain, “Have you seen him at lunch? It’ll probably explode right off.” The group around them broke into more quiet laughter, and from his desk, the student could see Andrei’s broad shoulders tense ever so slightly.

            Not much ended up getting done during the morning classes, with most of the students watching Andrei for any sign that the inevitable would happen to his uniform, and often gave mumbled answers when the teachers called on them. Sensing all of their eyes on him, Andrei’s answers to the teacher got worse as lunchtime approached, until finally the teacher gave up and gave them a reading to do before the bell.

Next to him, his friend reached out to tap him on the arm, his lips curling into a smirk, “Definitely after lunch.”

            “Then you totally lost, because you said before lunch.”

            “I said that if his ego made him even more of a fat ass.” He quieted down when the teacher looked their way, before going back to looking over their lesson plan, “I can’t believe he actually would come to school today.”

            “No duh, he would.” They were forced to quiet down again as the teacher frowned at them. Rather than speak again, his friend pointed at the tight fabric across the silver haired teenager’s shoulders, before leaning forward to hide his snort in his book.

            Unusually, both him and his friend actually stuck around the cafeteria, eating their lunch at an out of the way table as they watched the rest of the Rossius students get their food.

            “What a pig.” His friend said idly, picking at his teeth with a toothpick, “He probably has a good idea of what’s happening and he’s still doing it.”

            “Doing what?” He said, slightly bored, and flipping through a magazine.

            “I guess it’s not very interesting. Just getting as much food as usual.”

He made a nose of agreement, “What a pig.” Echoing his friend as he turned to another page.

            True to their prediction, it was only a few minutes into their class after lunch that the teacher, not noticing the tense atmosphere, called Andrei to answer something up on the board. The student knew from personal experience that it could be entertainment in itself—how the Great Grey Beast of Rossius hadn’t managed to fail a class was a mystery of the dorms. There was another quiet laugh as Andrei had to push his chair out with an audible sound before standing up and the high pitched snapping of threads was the only warning before the uniform gave up.

There was only a second of silence before the girl with the barrettes snorted, dissolving into sharp giggles, and another moment past before the rest of the class followed suit. Even from his seat in the back, he could see the slowly spreading red blush of shame go up Andrei’s neck and across his face, as the tall student tried valiantly to keep his expression calm.

It wasn’t working out too well.

Putting her elbows on her desk, the girl with the barrettes leaned forward to speak to her friends, but her voice was too loud for that to be her only intention, “Maybe that second helping at lunch was a bad idea, right?” Another girl with her hair in two buns held up her workbook to cover her wide grin, “Looks like those slow track times are showing.”

Next to him, his friend leaned back in his chair again, bringing his feet up to rest on his desk, “Hey, fat ass, don’t you know that’s school property you’re ruining?”

The sweeping glare from the teacher had little effect on the class, and they quickly pulled the apparently shocked Andrei to the side, “Go down to the locker rooms and just wear a track suit for the rest of the day.” Their voice was remarkably calm for someone faced with what had _very obviously_ happened, and their glare only intensified as they shut the door behind them.

The snickers didn’t die down when Andrei came back, and most of the students’ had the lazy, amused grin of someone watching their favorite show on TV.

At his desk in the back of the class, the student could feel his hands curl behind his books.


End file.
